The Egg Season has begun....!!!

Emu Breeders started laying. I also contacted several other people, and many of them confirmed their Breeders started laying, but not started in full swing.

Please note, when the season actually begins, not all the breeders will lay eggs. One or two pair will start laying eggs initially, and to kick off the momentum it will take atleast 2-3 weeks. Until then, you cannot start your incubator. Because to start an Incubator, you need a reasonable quantity of eggs to sustain the cost of production.

What to do with the eggs until then...?

You can keep it in Fridge at 18 degree celcius, for upto 15 days. Or, you can keep it in a dark, cold place inside a clay pot. When you are taking out the eggs from Fridge storage, keep the egg in open space at room temperature for a minimum of 8 hours for the eggs to stabilize.

The price of the eggs?.....  Good question, wait for atleast next 10 days..!!  This is the Demand and Supply equation.

Contract Emu Farming - Some Warnings

Recently some distasteful news in the Media about Emu Business from Maharashtra, which was disheartening. 

There are two sides to a coin. One side is the people who simply ready to be duped with tons of ignorance and Money, and the Other side is the People who design their schemes such that most appealing to a common man to part with his Money and Confidence. This applies to Finance Companies to Forex Companies, and Emu Business is not an exception to this White-Collar Crime.

Before someone new to this industry end-up in a similar scam, there are some valid points to look for before investing in Emu Schemes, whether it is Contract Emu Farming or MLM-type Schemes. We will be seeing them here.

In any Business, there has to be a product. In Emu Business, Meat & Oil are the products (Eggs are only for reproduction and is not a product). These are the two main reasons for which, Emus have to be culled. Culling for reasonable economic values is the essential key to this Business. If there is no culling and no regeneration, the cycle never completes. 

Before you invest and Sign a contract with a Contract Emu Farming Company, please look into the following aspects.

I put them into pointers:

• In an Emu Contract Farming Business - Check whether they have processing plants to produce Meat and Oil. Emu Processing Unit (EPU), as they are called, are setup to cull birds hygienically, and cut meat as required by Market. If the Emu Contract Farming Company does not have EPU and proper Marketing Arrangements to market the meat, do not invest your money with them.

•  If the Emu Contract Farming Business offers you more than Rs.350/- per month per bird, double check their past history, and also check whether they already have the EPU. It might be possible that they need more birds for their busy EPU, so they offer higher premium. If not, they are luring you and your money, because it is simply not viable to run at this cost for long-term.  This also applies to giving Gold Coins as an Incentive to join. Simply, doubt them.

• If the Emu Contract Farming Business is based on the Multi-Level-Marketing mode, never involve into this. You will earn only bad reputation for yourself, because you are false-promising many people into that.  Stay away from these kind of schemes.

With the advent of few big names in the industry doing Emu Contract Farming in large scale has raised concerns for many. Because the amount involved is running into Crores of Rupees. The tipping point for this industry will flower once the Emu Meat is well liked by the end-users. For that to happen, Emu Meat must be freely available on the market first.

Emu business will sustain and grow only when there is a usage, that means, a Market for Meat. This can be achieved only through selling its Meat for consumers and Oil for Pharmaceutical Industries. That day is not too far.

Emu Meat Sector Updates - 3-Aug-2011

I managed to speak to Dr. S.K.Maini on the Emu Meat Sector Developments, and It was fruitful to know lot of facts from him. FYI, Dr. S.K. Maini is one of the pioneers in Emu Farming Industry in India. He is running a NGO, focusing on Emu Products, named AGRIBIOTEK. 

Currently Dr.S.K.Maini is running an Emu Processing Unit (EPU) in Hyderabad with a capacity of 40 birds per day, which sees increasing demand for Emu Meat. The Emu meat is locally marketed, fat is sent to the processing unit. Emu skins are being collected & preserved, once they are approx 500 in number they will be sent for tanning.

The Price is Rs.270/Kg live weight, delivered at their EPU. 

Another Farmer, Mr. Suresh is running a similar sized EPU, but he sells the meat beyond Hyderabad, say, upto Chandigarh and Punjab. Another two similar units are coming up near Hyderabad and one in Nanded. 

In Tamil Nadu, Mr. Jegan Mohan of VR3 Emu farm is helping and advising aspiring entrepreneurs to set up EPUs by providing Consultancy and Marketing Tie-up. Mr. Jegan Mohan is one of the earliest Emu Farmer in TN and his VR3 Emu Farm has also procured license to process EMU OIL, as per Indian Regulatory Requirements. 

Susi Emu Farm and Jeevan Emu Care are coming up with their own EPUs. The procurement for them mostly will come through their Contract Farming.  VC Emu farm has a similar strategy, but there is no information on their EPU.

Vileena EPU is progressing towards to starting its operations in December 2011. 

Other than this established/establishing players, I have seen numerous local emu farmers, who regularly slaughter Emus for Meat to feed their Emu Meat Lovers in their city only during festivals. 

I am keep mentioning that Emu Business will be successful only if there is availability and consumption of Emu Meat in India. That's started happening now. The promotion and advertisement has not started at all. In general, Promotion and ad spending will start happening once there is a sizeable production capacity in place, and we can expect that too to be happening soon. 

Contact Details:

Dr.S.K.Maini - (98480 14071)

Mr.Jegan Mohan - (94426 35308)

Status of Emu Slaughtering Houses in Tamil Nadu

I spoke to few big emu farm owners last week. I got good news on the emu slaughtering houses with some concrete plans.

Jeevan Emu Farm is expected to start operation in their Slaughtering House by early weeks of August 2011. The Plant location is near Saanarpatty, Dindigul (TN). Jeevan has already started their Contract farming in a large scale last year. I have mentioned in detail about their scheme in my earlier post.  Mr. Rajapandiyan, CEO of Jeevan Emu Farms has indicated that they will shortly commence the operation in the Emu Slaughtering house tentatively in first week of August 2011.

The big player, Susi Emu Farms (SUMU), has their slaughtering house is on the cards before Dec 2011, after signing a consultancy agreement the past weeks. The Marketing for emu meat and fat will be done by an Industry Veteran (name withheld by request). I understand from that Friend is that they have secured a Meat Order from Overseas, which requires to cull 850 adult birds a month to produce the required quantity.

Also, Susi Emu farm has started expanding their business in Southern Districts after opening up branches under their umbrella.

The other two parties waiting in the sideline to pick up the slaughtering house business are VC Emu Farms, Salem, and MMT Emu Farms, Karur. I do not have an idea about these two, but, they have potential since they hold large quantities, in Tens of Thousands, of Emu Birds under their Contract Farming business.

It's very clear that the Emu Industry is finally kick starting in Tamil Nadu.

It's a good news, isn't it?

Emu Salughtering - a Franchise Model ?

Emu Slaughtering is the lifeline for Emu Farming Industry. If it is not established soon, the industry will be waning.

Here it comes a new concept on Emu Slaughtering - on Franchise Model.

Emu Slaughtering has to be approved by Animal Husbandry Ministry, which it takes its own time to approve and hence this is one major reason emu slaughtering houses are getting delayed to start their operation. But an approval is not required for a Butcher, except getting sanitary certificate from the local municipality. 

Instead of relying on few big Slaughtering Houses to procure emu birds on live-weight basis in large numbers, there is a new thinking of franchising the slaughtering house model to Butchers in cities. 

How does it work?

Concept:  

The emu slaughtering is not so popular in retail level, because, Butchers do not know how to process this bird and also how to handle the byproducts and biological wastes originating from them. The Butchers are need to be invited to join a free program, where they will be systematically trained on the emu slaughtering in their shops. Systematically here means, teaching & training them on how to do the following: removing the skin with out knifing, removing the feathers without leaving holes in the skin, separating the fat without blood stains, and  handling the biological wastes, etc.

1. Butcher will pay for 3 birds average live weight cost @ 40 Kg x 275 x 3= 33,000/-. It can be arranged with a bank to grant unsecured micro lonas to the butchers. As banks provide the money to the franchiser directly, whereas the butcher owes money to bank.
2. The Emu birds will be given to them on a daily basis, the butcher will sell the meat and be settling the money on the same day evening and along with that, the fat, feathers, and skin also will be collected by the franchier.
3. A Delivery van, with cages for each bird to be built and used to deliver the birds. The birds are expected to be delivered before 6 am in the morning.
4. A Collection van with refrigeration facilities and a safe vault (to keep money), to be visiting each butcher around 4 pm in the evening to collect the money and FAT.
5. The big farmers are to be signed agreement to supply birds @ 250/kg live weight at their farm gate. 
6. An arrangement with Emu Fat processing units (one is already running in Pondicherry) will give you a regular market for the fat. Same applies for Skin and Feathers. There are consumers for it.

Let's look at the cost aspects:

• What does Breeder get?

A Emu bird will reach 40 Kgs at 10th month by changing the feed combination. The purpose made feed combination will help the bird to store lot of fat at the age of 10th months. The selling cost at the 10th month for each bird is: Rs. 10,000. you have spend Rs.4500(feed)+Rs.2500 (chick production cost+labor), which costs you around Rs.7,000/-. You get Rs.3000/- per bird. If your farm is producing 1000 birds every year, you get 30,00,000/- as profit, whereas your sales, is Rs.1,00,00,000. It's a good 30% margin. Breeder gets his money on cash and carry basis.

• What does the Franchiser get?

The Franchiser who does running the distribution network, virtually starts up with very small investment, compared to the Emu Breeder. A bunch of people, several custom-built lorries, and a systematic approach and sincerity to the business are enough to make the big success. Apart from the investment in the infrastructure, Franchiser makes Rs.2000/- per bird straightaway. If the lorry carries 60 birds at a time, it is 60,000/- per trip as total Gross Profit. The advance money is paid by the butcher, as this money is coming from Banks (Citi, HSBC, SCB, etc) as an unsecured Microfinancing Loan. Government is forcing the banks to disburse microfinancing loans as a percentage of their total capital requirement. Actually, these banks are looking for a reliable opportunity and partner to work with. The advance money is with Franchiser to pay in cash to the breeder. Breeder gets his money on cash and carry basis. The fat collected is at Rs.1000/Kg from Butcher and is sold to the Emu oil processing unit at Rs.1,200/Kg, which makes an another Rs.60,000/- per trip of 60 birds (60 birds @ 5 Kg x Rs.200 [1200-1000=200] = 60,000). Each butcher can sell atleast two birds a day (25 Kg meat for each bird) and you can easily find 30-50 butchers in a city to market your product. To increase your sales numbers, you need to advertise periodically about the health aspects of emu meat in Papers and TV. 

• What does the butcher get?

Butcher initially deposits Rs.33,000/- to the franchiser for 3 emu birds at 40 Kg live weight at the rate of Rs.275/Kg, and the money is given by bank as microfinancing loan with no collateral. Butcher sells 25 Kg of meat per bird(with bones, albeit) @ Rs.300-325/Kg, sells 5 Kg of fat to the franchiser at Rs.1000/Kg, and Skin is selling at Rs.500/Skin. The total sales is Rs.13,000, against the bird cost of Rs.11,000/-. The net revenue is Rs.2,000/bird. If he sells two birds, he can make Rs.4,000/day on emu birds. Butcher is not sparing the money from his packet to pay the advance, which he can settle over a period of 3 years to the bank. And also, he is delivered with birds at his doorstep, and the fat is sold at his doorstep to the franchiser on the same day. It's no-pain business for him.

In general, Emu industry will be flourishing if this model gets implemented. If you need further clarification/information/suggestion on this, please email to me at jm.emufarm-at-g.mail_com.

Updated: Impact of Free Goats to Farmers in TN on Emu farming.

An Update (10th July 2011): 

Tamil Nadu Govt has announced that they are going to give 4 goats for each family for 7 lakh families in Tamil Nadu over a period of 5 years. Hence, TN will need 28 lakh (2.8 million) goats for 5 years and 1900 goats every day.

The Age of the goats will be 4-6 months. The eligible families shall not have any agricultural land. An officer will accompany them to the nearby market to buy the goat kids, and the government will borne the transport charges for bring the goat kids to home.

Will the goat farmers sell 4-6 months kids in large numbers?... Some body can clarify..!!??

Impact of Free Goats to Farmers in TN on Emu farm

Newly sworn-in TN Govt has promised to give away free goats for poor farmers to create a livelyhood for them. The BPL (Below Poverty Line) is ascribed at 22.5% of the TN population, which is roughly 32 lakh families (assuming 5 in a family). Each family will be given 4 goats, which will be 1.30 crores Goats in 5 years, which is 2.1 lakh goats every month, which turns out to be 7000 goats every day irrespective of holidays. 


So, Tamil Nadu is going to need 7,000 goats every day to give away to poor Farmers.

This is in addition to the existing consumption, which is already suffering the supply constraints. The poor supply for daily consumption of goat meat has already raised the goat meat prices past Rs.300/Kg mark.


What do you think the Goat Meat prices will be heading to....??


If it exceeds Rs.350/Kg mark, and still people wanted to eat Meat for purpose or pleasure, either the Beef will be entering into this area, or meats like Emu meat can take that place.

Are Emu breeders ready to take up this opportunity? Are they listening...???

Good News on Emu Slaughtering Houses

I recently had discussion with few industry veterans about the upcoming emu slaughtering units in and around Tamil Nadu and AP. They were very positive and confident about the slaughtering business, and I noticed that they are bit worried too, for not going to get enough stocks for the Slaughtering house. This will initiate a supply/demand gap, possibly in the coming year 2011/2012.

The Good News is that, Vileena Emu (AP) will be starting their Slaughtering House in July, same goes for Jeevan Emu Farm, Dindigul (TN). In addition to these two, I understand that another few units are coming up, and I am getting more details about them. Soon, I will bring those information here.

The price offered are Rs.250/Kg live bird weight at the Slaughter House Gate. This seems to be pretty standard rate. I believe this rate will go up once the Emu Meat Market demand is picking up.

The Bright lights are started showing up in Emu Farming Industry in India. It's a good news, indeed.

Some Clarifications on Emu farming

There was a thread in www.agricultureinformation.com about emu farming. The following questions were raised in that thread:

1. where to sell the emu meat, emu eggs and etc....
2. who is regulating/controling the rates of emu products.
3. Do we have processing units to extract the emu oil, emu meat, other stuff.
4. Do we have gov regulated exporting system for emu to other countries.
no body does have perfect answer to this emu farming. 

I have discussed the above questions in this blog in the previous entries. Let's look it again:

1. where to sell the emu meat, emu eggs and etc....

Obviously emu meat has to be sold to the consumer's like you and me in India. Currently there is no supply chain to carry emu meat to consumer's kitchen. The closely held market is in several Non-Veg Restaurants in Major Cities, which is offering Emu Meat based dishes and being received well. Unfortunately, we have only leg-bend emus for culling. No healthy herd just for culling purpose, because of sheer numbers. 

Please read this blog entry for knowing more about discussing this issue.

Eggs have to be sold to Hatcheries. If you couldn't find one nearby, set up one. It doesn't cost much. 

 
2. who is regulating/controlling the rates of emu products.

Market force, i.e, Demand and Supply will decide this rate. Once the adoption is high, and when the demand is exceeding supply, the rates for the birds will go up. This is very simple market calculation.

Regulating the rates for emu birds' is definitely not  the Government's business. If that's the case, we won't be having general price rise across India in commodities. 

In the near future, it will be the Slaughtering House Owner's will decide the rate for emu birds. Unless you have a integrated farming, i.e., you grow your own feed for emus, and buy only the essential medicines across the counter. This will save you a lot in feed costs. Other costs seems not having any variable portion at the most, i.e. quite static expenses. 


3. Do we have processing units to extract the emu oil, emu meat, other stuff.

Emu processing units are coming up, in Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. If my guess is correct, there will be 4 units in South India by end of 2011. These units are mainly focusing on slaughtering. Emu Oil processing requires special permissions, hence only few in the entire country will be able to do it, commercially. One of my friend in Tamil Nadu, already got this license from Central Government.

4. Do we have gov regulated exporting system for emu to other countries.

Govt does regulate  hygiene aspects of this trade, as is happening to other meat product exports. Emu Meat is neither a rare item, nor a regulated/controlled item like deer meat. Hence, this question doesn't arise. In general, while exporting, it is the buyer's terms & conditions that rules. 

Emu Eggs - Some Facts

Now, Emu industry is quite, because everyone is concentrating on collecting eggs, and monitoring their hatcheries. This is the Egg Laying season, and several of them already have chicks in their Hatcheries. Let's look into some interesting facts about Emu Eggs.

Laying Cycle:

• Emu birds lay eggs in a cycle of 5 or 6 eggs in a month. 
• After each cycle, there will be a gap of one week.
• Gap between two eggs is 72-74 hours (3 days).
• Emu Eggs weighs 400grams to 700 grams in general. 
• Average weight is 550 grams.
• In an average, there will be 4-6 cycles every season. (5x4=20eggs min; 6x6=36eggs max)
• Eggs will be laid in evenings or in early mornings. You can collect them around 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm. 

Egg Types:

• Each egg from a pair will be of same size and same weight, most of the times.
• Eggs are in dark green color with thick shell.
• Eggs are sometime in light green (whitish) color, which shows that some nutrients are missing, especially calcium. Add calcium supplements to the feed.
• Sometimes, you will get shell-less eggs -  eggs with just thick white membrane. This is caused by serious calcium deficiency. Add seashells powder to the feed.
• Eggs rarely formed a double-yoke. Double yoke eggs weigh almost 900grams to 1200 grams. These are useless, they never hatch. Better use it for "Big Family Omlette or Party Omlette"

Egg Handling:

• Egg handling does decide the hatchability of the Eggs.
• Egg has to be collected shortly after the laying. Do not leave it in open yard for too long.
• Egg has to be cleaned before storing. Clean it with a Warm water, and then use an antiseptic liquid with a cotton to clean it. This is to prevent bacterias.
• Store the eggs in below normal temperature, say 22-26 degree celcius. If you couldn't maintain at that temperature, use a dark place to store it. A earthern pot is also useful.
• While storing the eggs, keep them in horizontal state. Do not keep them upwards.
• Use it within 7 days of storage (in a dark room condition). If you are storing at 22-26 degrees, you can keep it for upto 3 weeks (I have tested and the hatchability is 80%).
• While transporting from location to another location, use a thermocol box, which has been designed to carry the eggs. Otherwise, road conditions may prove fatal for the eggs.

Egg Buying:

• Eggs are sold to Hatcheries, where people do not have their own incubators.
• Do not buy eggs from a distance of not more than 3-hours travelling time. 
• To ensure the air bag is intact inside the egg, use a warm water to test the eggs. If the air bag is intact, the Egg will float. Otherwise, it will sink.
• Visit the farm atleast once, where the eggs are coming from. Teach them the above mentioned Egg-handling habits.

I would appreciate people can feedback on the Egg prices in their region, as a response to this post.